Electronic Arts today announced that it has inked a deal with with United Talent Agency, described as a "leading Hollywood talent and literary agency," to help create movies and televisions shows based on EA properties.

The studio listed Army of Two, Need for Speed, Dead Space and Mirror's Edge in the announcement as examples of its popular efforts--suggesting these properties are likely candidates for transition to film or television.

Left, Mirror's Edge. Right, Dead Space.

One of the biggest video game publishers in the industry, EA's many properties encompass a variety of genres, including its sports titles, the mythology-rich Command & Conquer strategy series, Skate, and the evolution-simulator Spore.

EA films and shows already in the works include a live-action movie based on The Sims franchise, an animated television show inspired by the MySims games, a direct-to-DVD animated Dead Space prequel, and another unspecified animated effort.

"We view EA as an emerging entertainment force, not just because they are a great untapped IP rights holder, but because at their core they care most about how viewers respond to their stories and creative vision," noted UTA partner Richard Klubeck.

Following last week's E3 2008 Media and Business Summit, several industry veterans have weighed in on the usefulness of the conference, with many remarking that the show has outlived its usefulness.

However, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences president Joseph Olin told Shacknews that no company wants to be excluded from E3, noting that the conference is still the largest annual gathering of its kind in the gaming industry.

"The venue itself, I don't think E3 is as exciting as the products that are within it," Olin added. "I think, perhaps [at] the old E3, the frame overpowered the print. And now, I think it really is the opportunity to focus on the work, which is the most important thing."

Olin's comments bear sharp contrast to remarks made by several industry leaders. Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello offered harsher words for the revised E3, which as of 2007 has shifted towards an invitation-only arrangement for attendees... Read more

id Software today revealed that Electronic Arts will publish its upcoming titles, beginning with RAGE (PC, PS3, 360).

id's John Carmack appeared on stage to show id's support of the new publishing arrangement, noting that more RAGE details will be unveiled at QuakeCon later this month.

The agreement comes as part of the EA Partners initiative, under which EA helps publish and distribute titles for smaller, independent studios, such as Valve's The Orange Box and Harmonix's Rock Band.

"The RAGE publishing deal is the epitome of EA Partners' mission: Provide the world's best developers with access to the world's best publishing resources," explained EA Partners general manager David DeMartini.

"The team at id Software is one of the best development studios in the world. We're excited to work with id Software to give RAGE a blockbuster launch on the global stage."

A new trailer of RAGE was also shown, highlighting angry mutants and the sounds of brutal dismemberment.

Valve's multiplayer-focused zombie survival shooter Left 4 Dead (PC, 360) will include two-person split-screen play in addition to four-person online cooperative survival play, co-founder Gabe Newell revealed at EA's E3 press event.

It was unclear if that functionality is limited to the Xbox 360 version, or if it will be included in the PC edition as well. The game will let players assume control of undead foes as well, though the exact details of that functionality have not been disclosed.

Newell also noted that the game's four survivor characters have been redesigned. The new character designs better reflect the characters' status as survivors of a recent outbreak instead of hardened battle veterans.

Louis, for example, has lost his dreadlocks and battle armor, replaced by blood-splatted dress shirt, a loose tie, and a bald head.

Left 4 Dead is slated to arrive November 4. More details on the playable undead are expected to arrive tomorrow during Shacknews' hands-on time with the title.

Electronic Arts today announced a new cross-platform community gaming system titled Nucleus.

Nucleus will be build into all of the EA Sports titles, Spore, and Battlefield Heroes. The system will allow players to play games together, and also track scores and other game data across platforms.

Maps, weapons and other Battlefield Heroes downloads will be managed on the service.

Napster creator Shawn Fanning then appeared on stage, detailing a new custom achievement system using the existing Rupture network, which was purchased by EA last month.

Using an open API implemented in scripting language Lua, players will be able to create achievements for eachother and challenge their friends to complete them across the Nucleus network.

At the Electronic Arts press event, Maxis designer Will Wright talked on his upcoming evolutionary title Spore.

Wright spoke of his goal of merging science and creativity, and the "awe-inspiring" user-generated content of the Spore Creature Creator. Based on the Sims character creator, Wright estimated 100,000 creatures by the launch of the game, but that mark was reached in 22 hours, with 1,000,000 after a week.

Close to 2 million now exist in the database, a number that actually exceeds the total of known species on Earth. Wright mentioned that based on the pace, the fans have amounted to 38% of God's productivity, or, as he dubbed it, .38G.

The designer then went over a few surprising creatures that were created, including a skeleton and the Portal cube. 85,000 YouTube videos have been uploaded of Spore so far.

Wright also revealed that the SETI Institute was a major inspiration for the game. "In the future, we're going to be working very closely [with the SETI Institute]," he said.

A short trailer was then show. Check back later for the new footage.

Publisher Electronic Arts has announced that it intends to bring the bestselling educational card deck series Brain Quest to the Nintendo DS, by way of its EA Casual Entertainment development studio.

Adapting the curriculum-based card game model to a digital format, Brain Quest will debut in the form of two separate editions: one for grades three and four, and another for grades five and six. The games feature fast-paced quiz games on a variety of subjects as well as a story-driven quest mode.

The games mark the first educational game out of EA's Casual Entertainment label, created by the publisher last year. Both Brain Quest titles will hit retailers this coming September.

Speaking at an investors meeting, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello noted his disappointment with Need for Speed: ProStreet, and said that EA had been "torturing a very talented group of people" at EA Vancouver with rigorous 12 month development cycles reports GamesIndustry.biz.

Though Need for Speed: Most Wanted was a recent series highlight, newer games like Carbon and ProStreet were not received as well.

Electronic Arts attributes this to the fact that EA Vancouver had been producing a new Need for Speed game every single year for the past eight years. That changed last summer, ... Read more

For the fourth time, mega-publisher Electronic Arts has extended its hostile takeover bid of rival publisher Take-Two Interactive Software. Take-Two shareholders now have until July 18 to consider EA's unchanged offer of $25.74 per share.

EA cited the ongoing FTC review process of the proposed merger as the impetus behind the latest extension. Take-Two owns numerous popular properties, including Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, Sid Meier's Civilization, and BioShock.

The most recent previous deadline was set for June 16. EA first made an unsolicited $2 billion offer to buy Take-Two in late February, and took that offer directly to shareholders after it was rejected by Take-Two's board of directors.

As of June 16, EA claimed that shareholders had committed to selling it 6.13 million, roughly 7.9%, of Take-Two's outstanding shares. Curiously, that figure marks a slight decline since EA's claims that 6.21 million shares had been tenders as of May 16.

In response, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick again noted its belief that EA's offer "still significantly undervalues Take-Two, a fact that is reflected in the overwhelming number of stockholders who still have not tendered their shares."

Following up on yesterday's teasing, developer Crytek and publisher Electronic Arts have officially announced the second entry in the Crysis series of sci-fi shooters.

Due out this fall, Crysis Warhead will arrive exclusively on PCs and is the first title to be developed by Crytek's Budapest studio. The game is said to run on "a new, enhanced and optimized version" of CryENGINE 2, the technology that powered the original.

The game's status as a PC exclusive comes as a bit of a shock, considering that Crytek recently commented it would be moving away from PC-only development due to piracy. "I believe we won't have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future," Crytek president Cevat Yerli said then. "Similar games [to Crysis] on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more."

Expanding on the story of the original, Warhead follows Sergeant "Psycho" Sykes as he tackles the other side of the island during the time of the first game. Said to pack more weapons, new vehicles and new multiplayer content, the title carries the tagline of "Maximum freedom, maximum explosions and maximum Psycho!"

On its official forums, Crytek revealed that Warhead was the "main reason" behind the cancellation of future Crysis patches. The entire statement follows... Read more

Mega-publisher Electronic Arts has once again extended the deadline for its hostile takeover bid of rival publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, giving Take-Two shareholders until June 16 to consider EA's $25.74 per share offer.

Take-Two is the owner of numerous popular properties, such as Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne and BioShock, along with multiple development studios, including the various branches of Rockstar, 2K Boston, 2K Marin, 2K Czech, and 2K Australia.

EA first made the unsolicited $2 billion offer to buy Take-Two in late February. After it was rejected by Take-Two's board of directors, EA made the same offer to the company's shareholders in an attempt at a hostile takeover.

As of May 16, EA claimed that 6.21 million of Take-Two's 76.87 million shares, roughly 8%, had been tendered and not withdrawn from the offer. Today's ... Read more

Speaking on the state of the PC gaming, EA CEO John Riccitiello has noted his belief that the market has been "growing for several years" and that it has been "categorized wrongly" by a focus on retail sales.

"One of the things we try to look at at EA is the total business represented on PC game software, and we're seeing a growth in business there. It's been growing for several years," Riccitello said during a financial conference call yesterday.

"It's just been categorized wrongly by looking simply at the box side of the equation, he added. "The fastest growing [sector] is subscription, microtransactions-based and casual games, many of which are pretty much centered on the PC."

Riccitiello comments help explain EA's latest approach to PC gaming. Several of its upcoming titles, including BattleForge and the free-to-play multiplayer shooter Battlefield Heroes, are heavily centered around microtransactions.

"The box-side [sales] of PC [software] is soft. It's been soft for some... Read more

Electronic Arts has announced that it is developing a direct sequel to EA Black Box's skateboarding title Skate (PS3, X360), referred to as simply Skate 2, along with separate Wii and Nintendo DS entries titled Skate It.

The Wii and Nintendo DS iterations of the series (both pictured below) are due out later this year. The Nintendo DS version will use the portable's touch screen to control tricks.

Along with motion-sensitive controls that "mirror actual skate flips and moves," the Wii edition of Skate It will support the Wii Balance Board that comes packed with Wii Fit.

As for Skate 2, it was only revealed that the sequel is due on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Released last fall, Skate and its thumbstick-centered control scheme outsold the competing Tony Hawk game by a ratio of 2:1, prompting Activision to halt its annual Tony Hawk iterations and rework the series. EA had previously noted that it planned more Skate games.

Mega-publisher Electronic Arts revealed today that it has secured up to $1 billion in financing for a possible purchase of Take-Two Interactive Software, should it acquire the company by January 9, 2009.

The total sum comes from agreements with multiple banks, including Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., Morgan Stanley Bank, BNP Paribas, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., The Bank of Nova Scotia and KeyBank National Association.

EA initially made a $2 billion offer to acquire Grand Theft Auto and BioShock publisher Take-Two back in March. Take-Two noted that it would be open to discussing possible business agreements following the release of Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, X360) on April 29.

While open to discussing possible business combinations, Take-Two has clearly stated its intent to remain independent. Within Grand Theft Auto IV's first week at retail, the game sold six million units and brought in $500 million.

BioWare producer Derek French recently caused an uproar after announcing that copy protection on the PC editions of Mass Effect and Spore would require online validation every 10 days in order for the games to continue functioning.

In the face of increasing pressure, BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts today relented, updating the official Mass Effect PC FAQ to note that validation will now only be required when the player downloads new game content.

Q: If the game isn't going to require an authentication every 10 days, will it ever require re-authentication?

A: Only if the player chooses to download new game content.

Electronic Arts also released a statement mentioning that Spore's copy protection will be similarly changed to allow for offline play, only requiring validation on a patch or game content update.

The publisher further noted that the protection will still only allow users to authenticate each game on up to three computers. Approval of further authorizations... Read more

Publisher Electronic Arts is looking into the development of a Wii fitness game, Eurogamer reports.

Speaking at an event, EA Sports president Peter Moore remarked on the opportunities created by Nintendo's Wii Fit, already launched overseas and aimed for release in North America on May 19.

"We're watching very closely what the Wii Fit board does," Moore said. "We think we have to have a role to play with that mum—the kids have gone to school, she's got 45 minutes on her own, the Wii is there, it's the first console she's ever liked because she can do things herself. And we're working on stuff, trying to work out how we can use EA Sports applications there."

But Moore noted that if EA were to create a Wii fitness title, the exercise activities offered therein would be tailored for Western audiences and geared towards more active workouts than Nintendo's Wii Fit.

"I don't think the [Wii Balance Board] is going to take a pounding," he added. "We need to look more at western fitness in which I can actually be moving and start to sweat a little bit, and that's what we're working on right now."

Update: Developer Pandemic sent over a few screenshots of the game, and revealed that, in addition to PC, PS3, and X360, LOTR: Conquest will be hitting Nintendo DS this fall.

Original Story: IGN has first details on The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, a new action game in development at Mercenaries developer Pandemic Studios.

The game, in development for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is likened to the Pandemic developed Star Wars: Battlefront, where players can jump into any battle they saw in the movies and help either side win. The game will include two campaigns -- one of them featuring a storyline where Sauron regains control of the One Ring -- and comes with co-op support; online as well as through split-screen. Electronic Arts previously noted the existence of the project during a meeting with analysts.

"Our Pandemic Studios creative teams have years of expertise... Read more

Electronic Arts today announced that Fight Night Round 4 is now in development by EA Canada.

The boxing sequel will feature a re-written gameplay engine, allowing for inside fighting and new boxing styles. A new physics engine will allow for missed punches, glancing blows, and other unexpected animations.

Playable versions of famous heavyweights Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali are also slated to make the cut.

Expect Fight Night Round 4 to hit Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sometime in 2009.

Update: Electronic Arts has relented to the pressure.

Original story: BioWare technical producer Derek French has said that the PC versions of both Mass Effect and Spore will make use of copy protection that will require online validation every ten days in order for the games to continue working.

"After the first activation, SecuROM requires that [Mass Effect PC] re-check with the server within ten days (in case the CD Key has become public/warez'd and gets banned)," said French in a post on the BioWare forums.

If customers do not come online after ten days, the game will cease to function.

"After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run," added French. "..An internet connection is not required to install, just to activate the first time, and every 10 days after."

The check is run when users activate the game's executable file, with the first re-check coming within "5 days remaining in the 10 day window."

According to French, Maxis' Spore will also make use of the same scheme: "[Electronic Arts] is ready for us and getting ready for Spore, which will use the same system."

French also noted that the online requirement will be clearly labeled on the games' packaging.

Monolithic publisher Electronic Arts today launched the EA Sports Freestyle sub-brand, a new label aimed at what the company describes as "a growing, more casual sports gaming audience."

The company says that games released under the EA Sports Freestyle brand will be inclusive, casual, pick-up-and-play titles. The first title to debut under the label will be EA Canada's toonish boxer FaceBreaker (PS3, X360, Wii), which the company revealed will be released in September of this year.

In addition to the EA Sports and EA Sports Freestyle labels, the company also publishes its unrealistic, over-the-top sports titles such as the SSX and NBA... Read more